


Synth-Skin

by AgentBarnes616



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Gen, Science Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 03:43:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3880987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentBarnes616/pseuds/AgentBarnes616
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This fic is for petite-madame and her absolutely GORGEOUS art over at the-life-of-bucky-barnes. Specifically for this (http://the-life-of-bucky-barnes.tumblr.com/post/116566922152/on-instagram)  piece of art.</p><p>Bruce, Tony and Bucky workin on SCIENCE!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Synth-Skin

Tony finds him in the gym at 0330, involved way too much in taking his nightmares out on the punching bag, Bucky barely pulls his punch as Tony walks up to the bag.

“Thought I’d find you down here.” Tony murmurs quietly.

Bucky snorts and wraps an arm around the bag to keep it from swinging.

“You even been to sleep yet?” Bucky asks after a moment.

“No. Bruce and I had a breakthrough on some tech we’ve been designing.”

Bucky steps away from the bag towards his towel, gesturing for Tony to continue. He wipes his face down and turns back to Tony.

“That’s it??” Bucky’s hand falls to his side. “Usually you wax way more poetic about your stuff. Can’t get you to shut up half the time.”

Tony gives a noncommittal shrug and then opens his arms a little away from his body. “We…need some help with the last part. Uh. A test. Which neither of us can do.”

Bucky folds his arms over his chest, his left clinking softly against the new set of tags he and Steve had made. Wearing his old ones while nice for a while, brought back more than he was particularly ready to process or deal with, so Steve ordered them matching sets, and now his old ones sat in a hidden safe. 

“A test.”

Tony gives him a small smile. “It’s actually for the VA. Pepper designated a fair portion of the budget to them this quarter. Bruce and I got to thinking not everyone likes having daily reminders of war on display. Not everyone likes the questions. I mean who does? I still don’t like people asking me about the hole in my chest, and it’s been on display for the world to see at many conferences and was the cause of a lot of medical breakthroughs and advancements.”

Bucky nods, brushing a hand across his mouth to hide his chuckle.

“Right! So the reason we need you!” Tony claps and Bucky tilts his head to the side.

“It’s like camo-tech! Well. Holo-tech. You know how I designed the holo-tech for the helecarriers? Make them go invisible?”

Bucky hums, knowing he won’t actually get a reply in, now that Tony has started.

“It’s like that, but made to go over prosthetics to make everyone who want to look “normal”.” Tony rolls his eyes a little t the word. “But! If it works, it will make your super spy shit a lot easier. No more leather chic for you. Or if you wanted to just blend in when you and Capsicle go out. It’s…”

“So you want to stick something over my arm and see if it looks life like? Like my right arm?” Bucky finally asks when Tony takes a breath.

“Yeah. What’re you doing right now other than squaring your servos off against mine?” 

Tony gestures towards the punching bag with a smile. Bucky chuckles a little and leans down to pick up his shirt. He pulls it on over his head and nods to Tony. “Sure, but uh where are we doing this?”

“You’ll be standing. Don’t worry. I’m not calibrating your arm today. Although that is an idea...”

Bucky puts his hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Don’t get carried away Tony. I still don’t like having my arm prodded at.”

Tony smirks at him before walking out the gym. Bucky follows him to the elevator and up thirty floors to one of Tony and Bruce’s conjoined labs.

Bruce looks up from the holo-monitor he’s looking at and smiles. 

“Rough night?” Bruce asks with a teasing smirk.

“Bruce! He was PUNISHING my punching bags!!! He’s so mean!!” Tony smiles at Bucky over his shoulder before walking towards Bruce.

Bucky laughs a little. “So mean. The poor poor bags.”

Bruce waves him over away from the door. “Want some tea or water? I got more last time I was in Munnar.”

Bucky scratches his neck, pulling his hair up into a pony before letting it fall back down. “Water please.”

Bruce nods and turns to walk back towards one of the many fridges in the lab.

“Do you guys keep food in there too?”

Bruce laughs. “Tony has food stashed everywhere.”

“Snacking is better than not eating.” Tony mutters. “And I think he’s asking because of the biohazard sticker to the left.”

Bruce hums. “That’s why we have a mini-fridge. Cultures in one. Food in the other.”

Tony opens one of the plastic contains on the counter and looks in. “Okay I think it’s ready.

Bruce comes to stand next to Bucky and hands him the water bottle.

“Mind taking your shirt off?” Bruce asks.

Bucky nods and sets the bottle down onto the table before reaching down of the hem of his shirt.

Bruce picks up a tablet and taps a few things before picking up a couple electrode pads. “Going to stick a couple of these on you ok?” Bruce holds up the pads, wires dangling loosely from them, as Bucky puts his shirt onto the table’s edge.

Bucky nods. Bruce walks around him and puts two on his back. One at the base of his neck and the other between his shoulder blades a little further down.  
Tony pulls out what looks like a melted latex glove out of the container and looks at Bucky.

“Ok. So lets get this on and run some tests.” 

“It’s not going to fry any circuits or interfere?” Bucky asks after a moment.

“Would you like to power the arm down while we put it on?” Bruce asks. “This is the first live test, and while the two shouldn’t interact other than on a base level, well, you have a completely different type of prosthetic than most.”

Bucky looks to Tony.

“Your call. They should operate independently. No ‘network’ feeds.”

Bucky shrugs. “Alright lets do it.” He extends his left arm towards Tony.

Bruce taps his table again before pulling one of the larger monitor on the table towards them.

Bucky watches in fascination as Tony pulls the synthetic skin over his arm. Right now it just looks like a translucent piece of film, with netting weaving through it and giving it an odd texture. The sensors in his arm don’t register it as Tony moves it slowly up his arm, pulling it in a way that reminds Bucky of women pulling on their stockings or adjusting them after they’ve moved.

“How’s it supposed to stay in place?” Bucky asks as Tony smooths it around his elbow.

“You know those nano-tech masks Natasha is fond of?” Bruce asks. “Much the same way. A little static and nano-bot anchors. It will also depend on the placement of the prosthetic.

“Also, this is made to look and feel like skin, so there will be options for the anchoring methods in the future. Grafts and what not.” Tony adds on.

“But that is several tests and batches in the future.” Bruce murmurs softly.

Bucky schools his face as Tony gets closer to his shoulder, still not overly fond of the scaring around the area.

Tony’s touches are light and methodic, mumbling to himself as he goes and looking over at Bruce every once in a while. Once he’s satisfied with the placement, Tony walks over to his own monitor. Bruce comes next to him and places some sensor pads on his forearm.

“Okay. I am going to need you to do a few things before it’s actually powered on.”

Bucky nods, and Bruce returns back over to his monitor.

“Wiggle your fingers.”

Bucky does slowly.

“Make a fist.” Tony hums tapping a few things on his screen and moving a hologram to his left. “Adjust like you’re throwing a punch.”

The servos in his arm re-calibrate and Bucky watches the synth-skin ripple.

“Okay, relax, lift your arm from your thigh to 90 degrees.” 

Bruce holds his hand up as Bucky moves his arm, shaking his head. Tony moves a few more things on his screen, pulling his hologram back to center and tilting his head at it a little.

“Drop down a little, like a hand shake?”

Bruce mutters something only Tony can apparently understand before Tony is pushing the hologram away out of his immediate line of site.

“Arm over your head.” Tony flicks his wrist and several figures adjust in the space between him on the screens.

“Okay. Looks like it’s keeping its flexibilities and its shape. You okay? Comfy? How does it register with the sensors in your arm? Your hand?

Tony motions for his left arm and Bucky extends it towards him.

The pressure sensors light up as Tony drags his fingers from palm to elbow watching the synth-skin.

“Fine. Doesn’t really register it in a noticeable way. Just like wearing a shirt or something. Know it’s there, but yea.”

“So it’s light enough without losing its density for the holotech. Excellent.” Bruce says.

“Guess we’ll find out. Ready to turn it on?”

Bucky looks from Tony to Bruce and then shrugs. “It’s why I’m here right?”

Tony lets out a small huff of laughter. “Sure Robocop.”

Bruce and Tony push things around on their monitors before looking at him.

Bucky watches in fascination as the synth-skin ripples, or appears to, before slowing matching the skin tone of his right arm.

“Where is it pulling the data from to match?”

“The sensors on your back for now. Once it’s been calibrated to you, there will be sensors embedded where it essentially makes the ‘seal’ to your body and it will pull from there. But for now, in the testing phases we’re just working with the pads. The calibration won’t take long, but they need to know what they’re matching."

Bucky hums in acknowledgment.

“Once it’s completely operational, it should match based on body temperature. Flushed. Cold. That sorta thing.”

Tony makes a gesture for him to make a fist, so Bucky repeats the motion and Tony hums at the readings.

“The synth-skin, right now if you had to run out of this lab, would last for 12 hours of continuous wear before needing to be recharged.”

Bucky nods at Bruce, before redirecting his attention back to Tony and following the gestures the smaller brunette makes at him.

“How do you charge it?”

“It pulls of, like a stocking I guess, and you just need to put it back in its container for an hour or two depending on what you’ve been doing. The liquid in the container, which will only be released when the seal is intact, it’s in a completely separate chamber, helps it keep its elasticity and smoothness.”

“And for combat?”

Bruce and Tony share a small look.

“It can self-repair to an extent. Knife cuts, tears, WITH IN REASON. But if it’s like when Cap lost that chunk of his uniform around his arm, the rest will stop working. It’s like a net really. But like my armor, you can have a few dents and still be ok.”

Bucky nods. He looks down at his left hand and turns in over a few times, his breath catching a little. He knows his metal hand is still there, but he never thought he’d look down and see something that looked like his right hand again.

“I would say this test is a success.” Bruce says with a smile.

There’s a pause where both Tony and Bruce are tapping on their screens and Bucky laughs, holding his left hand up in front of his face.

“Think Steve would freak if I went upstairs and didn’t say anything, act like nothing was different?” Bucky smirks and wiggles his fingers.

Tony doubles over holding his stomach he’s laughing so hard.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me over on tumblr @NatalieJumper


End file.
